A VIEW FROM THE HOWTH HEAD. GAY BYRNE 'Leno oohed and ahhhed and swore that he would die a happy man if only he had a Triumph Bonneville in his collection'

MONDAY

Today in Dublin I saw three huge poster ads for a Triumph Bonneville motorcycle. I cannot recall ever seeing a poster ad for a motorbike in Ireland before. This particular bike is a recreation of a model from the 1960s. Actually, by today's standards, it was a pretty lousy bike: it crunched and banged, made a lot of unnecessary noise, and it leaked oil like the Exxon Valdez. But at the time it was class, and I and my pals would have sold our souls to own one.

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